The Chandramouleeshwara Pooja Hall at the main mantapa of the Kanchi Mutt at Kanchipuram has recently installed a massive painting Sri Kamakoti Vaibhavam by Jayashree Nimagadda displaying the three seers and depicting the Golden period.
“I would consider this a high point of my passion for art. I am donating it to the mutt as a permanent exhibit,” says the city-based artist of the 8 x 7 feet oil painting on canvas that was unveiled by Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamiji last month.
“It took me 10 months to complete this.”
Jayashree was always interested in art. Her penchant for temple and religious art, Tanjore art, Kerala’s Murals and Pancha Varna art resulted in more than 50 paintings in several media.
“Some of were displayed at the Dallas Art exhibition last year.”
Jayashree did her Masters in English Literature from Osmania University in Hyderabad, followed by a teaching stint. When she moved to the U.S. for a few years with her husband Venkat, she had the time and opportunity for introspection. “I have great regard for Raja Ravi Varma and had studied the intricacies of his true-to-life paintings. I wanted to replicate them to learn the minutiae involved in his works. I was bold enough to try out his Shakuntala and Hamsa Damayanthi. Ravi Varma changed the landscape of Indian art and brought in newer terminologies in the understanding of life, divinity and nature. I was inspired by his paintings to pursue this field.”
Jayashree also tried folk themes in oil, pencil sketches and water colours. When a professor at Harvard asked artists to visualise Kanchi pontiffs commemorating the Padayatra of the Paramacharya that she thought about those themes. “The large painting that I completed for the Kanchi Mutt had to be researched thoroughly for a realistic portrayal. There was abundant detailing that had to go into it. I was overwhelmed to see my work displayed at the Mutt. My artistic journey has led me to a new spiritual experience.”
